Hi,
I am a 24 year old woman who was diagnosed at age 19 with ASPD aka sociopathy/psychopathy, Ask Me Anything.
How do you feel about society’s view on your diagnosis?
I’m told I may have bpd and I feel horrible about it, I know bpd people are hated and the support are for people who have to deal with them. However everywhere I read your diagnosis is seen as the worst. Basically looks like a name society came up for people they hate.
I’m not sure if my reading is correct. How do you think people see it and how do you feel about it? Do you agree with whatever the general opinion is?
Reading here it seems to be even worse than i thought. If you tell people about they will think you are a murdered/sadist/demon. Just the name they gave you must be harder than whatever symptoms you have…
“How do you feel about society’s view on your diagnosis?”
I think our society’s view on ASPD is far too stigmatizing and sensationalised. The majority of people learn about ASPD through entertainment and junk true crime pop psychologists. Even just the word “pychopath” is used as just another word for bad. So many people who claim to be mental health positive completely change their tune when it comes to cluster B personality disorders and not something seem was wholesome like depression or OCD.
“I’m not sure if my reading is correct. How do you think people see it and how do you feel about it?”
I love your analysis. People should think of ASPD the same way people think of any other mental illness. ASPD itself is bad but we shouldn’t demonize people who have it. The same way we don’t demonize people with autism or schizophrenia. At the same time we shouldn’t romanticize it. I see a lot of people calling themselves ‘psychopaths’ or ‘sociopaths’ because they think it sounds cool and edgy. They want to think of themselves as the cunning and smart literally me villain from there favourite movie. Not only that just as bad as stigmatizing ASPD it’s just plane cringe as well.
“Do you agree with whatever the general opinion is?”
Not at all. The general opinion on ASPD doesn’t come from reality it comes from movies and TV. Most don’t understand ASPD and only think about it as the “evil person” disorder.
You have a very admirable take on all these questions. It’s hard to believe you have a disorder.
And on that note, do you think you do? From the comments it seems like you agree you have a disorder that needs fixing and is bad, as you put it.
I have a hard time with these diagnostics that seem to change a lot (a broken bone had always been a broken bone and needs healing). How far are things just different perspectives or just different personalities or disorders?
I have many of the same behaviors as people from many “disorders”, and also from the same zodiac sign. If I changed them I would just be another person, not necessarily more healthy. And the same with everyone.
I’m not sure what I’m getting at. It’s just that you have a much more controversial diagnosis and you seem more mentally stable than the vast majority I hear talking. It makes me question these diagnosis more than I do with myself. But then again, you seem more rational than I am, and with the least socially acceptable diagnosis and you seem to agree with it, so I think it’s just me making excuses for my disorder and it all makes sense…
It still seems like no one is willing to ask the actually important question… what’s your favourite dinosaur? 🦕🦖
All of them
Mildly disappointing… but acceptable
They’re just all great.
OP missed a trick here by not simply responding to every question with “fuck off”.
It took me all these hours but I finally get the joke. Bruh.
Not really a trick. It’s more being rude if anything.
So with little to no empathy, which career path are you going to pursue?
A. Lawyer
B. Sales
C. Politics
D. Religious/Scam
E. Criminal
F. Other
You forgot medicine. Psychopaths are over-represented among surgeons, and their procedures tend to have better outcomes. It’s likely that not being emotionally invested means better performance under pressure.
A doctor or vet. I always see doctors/vets talking about how hard it is to deal with other peoples emotions. Plus it pays well.
How do you feel in a situation where you know you should feel more empathetic? Like if someone close is having a bad day? Do you feel frustration on the person getting “annoying” or something? This question stems from a stereotype so forgive me if it’s a “stupid question” :)
Also, what does it mean to you that someone is “close to you”?
This isn’t a stupid question at all. Also, yeah pretty much. It’s like, “what do you want me to do about it?”. If I am in a situation where I have to empathize with someone then what I’ll do is listen to their problem and console them when I can.
Have you shared your diagnosis with anyone? If so, did they react as you expected?
No, I haven’t. It’s far too stigmatized to just casually admit something like that. Maybe if they were really close to me.
I totally understand ❤️
What made you decide to get a diagnosis?
It was recommended by a counsellor from my old school. Plus, I thought it would be interesting to learn about myself.
It’s been interesting learning about it through this ama. Thanks for sharing
It’s no problem. I thought it would be nice give people a perspective from someone who actually has it and not some crappy pop psychologists.
How does remorse/guilt work for you? Is it just absent? A vague concept? Or is it fundamentally there but really easy to ignore?
A vague concept is the best way to put it. I can understand the concepts on a intellectual level but I just don’t feel them. Like, I can understand regretting something because it hurt someone else but I don’t know how you can feel someone else’s pain. It’s the same for guilt. ASPD gives you an extremely short time preference. If I make a bad decision once I’m done dealing with the consequences I don’t really think about it. The future is in the future so why really care and the past is the past. It’s for this reason I don’t feel anything for the people involved.
I understand this isn’t a good way of thinking about things. I understand I need to improve myself to stop these toxic patterns of thinking. I now make that I not only learn from my mistakes but put what I learnt into practice.
I may not feel empathy or guilt like a normal person but I can learn my short commings and work on them and at the end of the day that’s what being a good person is all about.
What are some stereotypes of ASPD that you find to be true (or not true)?
That we’re all serial killers. ASPD isn’t going to make you a serial killer more than anyone other personality disorder. Also, that we’re all abusers and can’t be trusted.
Honestly there isn’t that many accurate stereotypes about people with ASPD. It’s been so demonised in the media and pop psychology. The Idea people get of ASPD usually comes from sensationalist movies or TV shows.
Can you pick a specific well-known depiction of ASPD and compare what is similar and dissimilar to your experience?
A common example is Patrick Bateman from ‘American Psycho’. From what I’ve seen Bateman is obsessed with how he’s seen by others and is prone to having power fantasies. He seems more NPD to me. I don’t really care how I look anymore then any other woman does.
Do you prefer cats or dogs?
Cats
Have you, or have you ever wanted a pet? Why (not)?
Not really. There too much effort and I don’t have the time. Plus they take valuable drink and pizza money.
Do you think you’ve become more aware of ASPD traits in other people?
Not really. Having a mental illness doesn’t make you a professional on that mental illness anymore then breaking a leg would make you a professional on broken bones.
I think a lot of TikTok influencers, apparently experts of ADHD, would get mad at that comment 🤣
As they should. TikTok is a goldmine then it comes to $hit mental health content.
Whats the worst thing you’ve done to someone or something?
We’ve all done bad things. Nobody is perfect. When I was 14 me and two other friends decided to get revenge on a teacher for getting me in trouble the week before. So we decided to trash that teachers car. That same night I dared my friend to drink a cocktail of vodka and cough syrup. She ended up throwing up. In the end I was made to pay the teacher for a new car and got suspended for a week.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever done for someone?
I gave my mom 20$ for her birthday.
What time is it
17:18
1 horse size duck, or 1000 duck-size horses?
Neither, I’m not vaush.
Do u get a kick out of causing pain for others. If so what’s your favourite method for inflicting pain physical or spycological?
No because I’m not a sadist. I don’t know where you got that idea from?
Well if u don’t care about others then why not? What’s stopping you?
I can care about people. I love and care about people like my friends, siblings, boyfriends and parents. I can feel love but I just can’t empathize with them. Even if I didn’t care about others I wouldn’t gain anything from hurting them the way a sadist would.
There’s an interview with a psych doctor who’s been diagnosed with sociopathy you might be interested in. She’s married with kids.
Thank you, I’ve heard of this woman before. I like what she does but the amount of slack she gets online is insane. Every time she does something all the comments are about how she’s “manipulating you” and how “sociopaths are evil”. The way our society demonize cluster B personality disorders is deplorable.
Slack is when someone get’s off lightly.
Flak is when they’re unduly attacked.
I’ll keep this in mind.
